


On Your Mark

by busaikko



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-14
Updated: 2007-02-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 06:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8522860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/busaikko/pseuds/busaikko
Summary: Severus sees many futures.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Betas: islandsmoke and schemingreader  
> Inspired by the video for [Chage and Aska's On Your Mark](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6uUnwB6HkQ). . . and perhaps can be seen as ruminations on Book 7.

"No," Remus said, with that faint irritating smile that made Severus want to bite him, and then the smile melted like snow on the tongue as the curse hit. He was dead before his head even struck the ground, making a hollow sound that resonated in the void where Severus' heart had been.

Severus did as he was told, and although he was well rewarded when the Dark Lord won, he was never able to remember warmth again.

_on your mark_

"No," Remus shouted, but Severus threw his arms open wide to cover Harry before Remus could even turn around. It was such a small, simple thing, no more than two lightning-quick steps to the left and arms opened wide. Severus knew Remus well enough to put words to the fury on his face – _What do you think you are, a shield, a martyr?_ – and to see the fear and grief and desperation there as well, but then there was blackness and no more and nothing and never. The snapping of Severus' neck was the fulcrum turning the battle, but he was no longer there.

_on your mark_

"No," Remus said, his eyes glowing with fierce intent as he studied the Horcrux. "This is something we have to do."

Severus had expected nothing less. "I enjoyed being on your side," he said, and Remus kissed him with the same kind of hungry ferocity. They'd spent all of their forced togetherness either shouting each other down or flinging each other up against the bookshelves for a hard, rough fuck. Sometimes they had done both, finishing breathless and hoarse and summoning buttons that had found refuge under the settee.

"Always an adventure," Remus said. As he raised his wand, Severus glanced up. He met Remus' eyes; and then they were committed to the ritual of destruction. When their magic and souls began to be sucked into the vortex – as Remus had predicted might happen; Severus hated being wrong, hated dying wrong – they both knew they wouldn't abort the spell. Remus gave Severus one last glance, brilliant with pain and desire. Neither, of course, ever knew which side won the war, or whether it really mattered, in the end.

_on your mark_

"No more," Remus moaned in his chains, looking broken, but Severus knew better. He waved a hand to let the lashing continue, and six strokes later he saw Remus tense. Remus' head still hung down, but from behind his sweat-soaked fringe his eyes glittered with an inhuman hatred.

He didn't signal to have the lashing stopped until he was certain that Remus had been driven out of his skull, leaving only the wolf-consciousness in a maelstrom of betrayal and violation. It didn't matter that Remus had calmly told him how to do what he was doing, while feeding him hot buttered toast in bed. _Forgive me_ , he thought, though he knew that there was neither mercy nor forgiveness left in Remus now. He was a weapon, and Severus released the spell on the chains and set him free.

The others were taken completely by surprise. Remus had Severus down and his throat ripped out before anyone had the strength of mind to curse him. As the world curled into darkness like a photograph in a fire, Severus was aware of Remus' heavy, motionless weight holding him; and he almost smiled. Despite it all, they were taking their secrets to the grave with them.

_on your mark_

Severus woke again in a cold sweat, his heart racing, and there was no ease to the fear until he turned and wrapped Remus tightly in his arms, taking inventory. Heartbeat strong under his hands; mouth open and breath damp and warm; bone and muscle shifting as Remus stretched.

"Another nightmare?" Remus asked, stroking Severus' back and running his fingers through his hair. Severus let himself be lulled until he thought he could speak without embarrassing himself.

"Don't say no to me," he muttered finally against Remus' chest. "Everything will go wrong if you do."

"Is that a prophecy?" Remus asked. Severus heard curiosity and concern, and sighed out tension: he didn't like owning to it, but part of him still expected Remus to mock him.

"I don't know," Severus admitted. "But I keep seeing us dying, and the common denominator is you saying _no_. I know it doesn't make sense," he added, angry at himself.

"Prophecies aren't supposed to," Remus soothed, and Severus rolled over him suddenly, placing one hand on either side of Remus' head and staring down at him. Remus rocked his hips up teasingly, and Severus pushed him down with an insistence that made them both gasp.

"You might," Severus said, as Remus' teeth closed on his shoulder with bruising force, "for once in your contrary life, try saying – "

_on your mark_

"Yes," Remus said, and the minister raised an eyebrow at him. Remus flushed. "I do, I mean."

Severus smirked, but the rest of the ceremony proceeded without incident. Normal, he thought, surveying the guests in the garden afterwards. They had all been through enough in the war that _normal_ was seen as a precious state of grace. Too many had died; too many had suffered loss and fear and betrayal. He was still amazed to wake with Remus beside him. Too often his nightmares had bled into reality, and he had thought Remus dead or lost to him forever.

After what was, in a swooping victory for revisionist history, now known as the Second Misunderstanding at the Ministry, Severus had found himself in a horribly uncomfortable chair next to a collapsible cot in St Mungo's.

"We survived," Remus said, giddy on pain-killing potions.

"Yes," Severus said, and took Remus' hand, ignoring all the others in the corridor. "You won't ever leave me, will you?"

Remus opened his mouth, then shut it with a smile. "Re-phrase that question."

Severus found himself smiling back, for the first time in ages. "Make an honest man of me."

"Oh, yes," Remus had breathed, fierce possession in the words and in his eyes.

"Knut for your thoughts," Remus murmured now, taking Severus' arm. "You're miles away."

"I was just thinking how… typically middle-aged and middle-class all this is."

Remus looked around at their gathered friends. "Not a bad thing."

"Unexpected."

"Ah." Remus leant over to brush a kiss on Severus' cheek. His mouth close to Severus' ear, he whispered, "Anything you want – I'll always say yes to you."

Remus stepped back, winked, and walked over to join Minerva and Luna in conversation. Severus stared after him, feeling hot and oddly breathless.

He didn't believe in prophecy: it was silly and inaccurate. But he believed that they had created their future, the world turning on a word from darkness to infinite possibility. Severus smiled, adjusted his robes, and began compiling a list of all the things he wanted.


End file.
